The chief prosecutor in the Bryant family murder trial--who alleged that members of the notorious drug ring had infiltrated law enforcement agencies--has been removed from the case, a Los Angeles County district attorney's spokesman said Monday. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jan Maurizi, who has been dogged by unwanted publicity in the case over the past two months, was replaced Thursday by Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin McCormick, spokesman Mike Botula said. The change was ordered by Dist. Atty.

The chief prosecutor in the Bryant family murder trial--who alleged that members of the notorious drug ring had infiltrated law enforcement agencies--has been removed from the case, a Los Angeles County district attorney's spokesman said Monday. A judge later ruled that there was not enough evidence to support the infiltration claim. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jan Maurizi, who has been dogged by unwanted publicity in the case over the past two months, was replaced Thursday by Deputy Dist. Atty.

The chief prosecutor in the Bryant family murder trial--who alleged that members of the notorious drug ring had infiltrated law enforcement agencies--has been removed from the case, a Los Angeles County district attorney's spokesman said Monday. A judge later ruled that there was not enough evidence to support the infiltration claim. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jan Maurizi, who has been dogged by unwanted publicity in the case over the past two months, was replaced Thursday by Deputy Dist. Atty.

The chief prosecutor in the Bryant family murder trial--who alleged that members of the notorious drug ring had infiltrated law enforcement agencies--has been removed from the case, a Los Angeles County district attorney's spokesman said Monday. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jan Maurizi, who has been dogged by unwanted publicity in the case over the past two months, was replaced Thursday by Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin McCormick, spokesman Mike Botula said. The change was ordered by Dist. Atty.

A transient taken in by an Arleta woman after she met him in church two years ago has been ordered to stand trial in her death. San Fernando Municipal Judge James E. Satt said there was enough evidence at a preliminary hearing to try Marshall Deerwester, 24, in the Oct. 11 death of Retha Terry, 73, of Arleta.

A jury recommended the death penalty Thursday for a woman who arranged her husband's murder to collect a $500,000 estate and then arranged the slaying of his killer. In asking the jury for the death penalty last week, prosecutor Jan Maurizi called Mary Ellen Samuels a greedy, manipulative "mastermind of two evil plots" in the slaying of "Lethal Weapon" cameraman Robert Samuels and the man paid to kill him, James Bernstein.

Mary Ellen Samuels denied in Van Nuys Superior Court on Monday that she hired a hit man to kill her husband, then another to kill the executioner. She also denied that she had openly searched for hired killers in bars. But during her first full day of testifying in her own defense at her double murder-solicitation trial, Samuels admitted turning to a friend in a bar and complaining about her husband, whom she branded a child molester. She recalled saying that she wished he were dead.

Fugitives who come back across the border may soon be tried for crimes allegedly committed in California even if they already have been prosecuted for the crimes in another country. A new state law, which takes effect Jan. 1, was sought by prosecutors and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week. The law applies only to those who voluntarily return to the United States. Forty-four other states have similar laws, prosecutors said.

The state attorney general on Monday once again opposed taking over the Bryant Family murder case, a change that defense lawyers want because of alleged conflicts of interest in the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. State prosecutors had made it clear in the past that they did not want to take over the case, in which five members of the alleged San Fernando Valley crime syndicate are charged with murdering four people in Lake View Terrace in 1988.

A Saugus man charged with 20 counts of sexual assault against nine girls pleaded no contest Thursday to nine of the charges, facing a sentence of 22 years in state prison. Douglas Clark Greene, 36, had pleaded not guilty to the charges following his March 12 arrest. But he agreed to a plea-bargain Thursday in Newhall Municipal Court after Deputy Dist. Atty.

* In the Oct. 20 edition of The Times, the imposition of the death penalty for three Bryant Family members was reported ("3 Bryant Family Members Given Death Sentences"). Accusations made by defense attorneys regarding a deputy district attorney's conduct in the case were reported in the story. What was not made clear in the story is that on March 4, 1993, the appellate court issued a 31-page opinion finding the accusations made by defense attorneys to be "not supported in the record."